Waltrip leads strong Toyota effort with pole at Talladega
Quote selected text Published October 6th, 2007 in NASCAR News
Michael Waltrip led a contingent of seven Toyota-powered cars into the top-10 capturing the pole for Sunday’s UAW-Ford 500, the fourth race in the 10-race “Chase for the Nextel Cup.” The No.55 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota driver circled the 2.66-mile Talladega Superspeedway in 50.648 seconds (189.070 m.p.h.).
The pole victory was Waltrip’s first this season and fourth of his Nextel Cup career.
“There have been a lot of Sunday afternoons when this car wasn’t on the track,” said Waltrip. “To have it on the track, in front of everybody, when they start tomorrow afternoon is going to be a really proud moment.”
Starting alongside Waltrip will be Dave Blaney, in another Toyota, who posted a time of 50.710 seconds.
Brian Vickers (50.726) and Joe Nemechek (50.809) will make up row two.
Because it is an “impound race” most of the “Chase” drivers bypassed qualifying setups for more reliable, but slightly slower, race setups.
The “Chase” field will start in the following order: Tony Stewart (11th), Martin Truex Jr. (13th), Denny Hamlin (18th), Jimmie Johnson (19th), Jeff Burton (21st), Clint Bowyer (23rd), Matt Kenseth (25th), Carl Edwards (31st), Jeff Gordon (34th), Kyle Busch (36th), Kevin Harvick (37th) and Kurt Busch (41st).
“Today was all about the guys outside the top-35 in points,” said Gordon.
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WHOA….THAT’S scary..
did you SEE the starting grid?! 7 OUT OF THE TOP 10 ARE TOYOTAS!!
watch out next season…I KNEW there was something fishy about Toyota..JGR knows something the fans don’t about Toyota.. I think Chevy needs to run and hide, because Toyota is going to be taking over.. hate to say it, but this is official PROOF it’s happening.
Who will win the race?
A Toyota.
Mark my words, I see it happening..
If it’s a toyota, I hope it’s Brian Vickers.
I have a strong feeling a Toyota will win tomorrow. HOLY S**T! It wasn’t that long ago that Mikey had -27 points in the standings. Now look @ him!
Chill… they just had better qualifying setups so they can make the race
Last year most of the drivers that had to qualify on time blew up because of the lighter engine and gear oil during the race. But it got them qualified. so lets see how many Toyota’s blow up tomorrow.
There is nothing fishy about Toyota and they wont be running for the win most likely although anything can happen in a plate race.
They ran a qualifying setup because they had to make the race. Everybody else ran a race setup because they were in either way and its an impound race so you run what you qualified with. Prepare to watch them drop quickly with poor handling cars.
Gibbs will still struggle with Toyota next year. Those engines are not as strong as the Chevy and Penske Dodge engines.
Go Mikey Go!!!!!!!!!
Jet fuel
Hunkerdown wrote:
AGAIN
WELL ITS ABOUT TIME. I SEE TOYOTAS TAKING OVER TOO NEXT YEAR LOOK WHO IS DRIVING ONE NEXT YEAR, TONY AND KYLE AND OTHER ONES TOO, LOOKS LIKE ITS COMPITITION BETWEEN CHEVY AND THE TOY,
GOOD LUCK MIKEY,
BUT I DO HOPE JR GETA A WIN OR JEFF BURTIN , ATLEAST SOMEONE WHO HASNT WON THIS SEASON
Im not saying a thing until they prove their worth time after time,